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Danger_Mouse
08-30-2007, 06:16 PM
I thought of posting this in our complaints section....but i am not complaining as much as getting a big chuckle out of this......
I just received my THIRD set, yes THIRD set of Cd's from a client that have come to me BLANK. Now to be sure I threw them on a PC, yup blank again.
This is a multi million dollar company and it blows me away how unorganized and slack some of these people are. I just laugh....
My guess is they are adding their files to the CD burning software, but NOT actually burning a CD.
I love it. Should I tell them?
Its crazy how inept some people seem to be. I have the same problem right now with a client that cannot for the life of them figure out how to attach photos to send over email.... whats the deal with people?? The same client deciede to send me a cd with the pics on it.... but instead it has promotional VIDEOS on it about their business.
....sighs
.
CkretAjint
08-30-2007, 06:22 PM
Should I tell them?
Possibly. I just hope they don't exppect the project done on time. I tell people XX days from the time I recieve ALL materials needed. This really seems to light a fire under them then. I can't design a floorplan without a blueprint. But once I have the blueprint it will onl take me about 2 days to finish it. Now it you get it to me tomorrow, AWESOME! If you get it to me 2 months from now, it will still take me 2 months from the day I recieve the files needed to complete the project. period...
Danger_Mouse
08-30-2007, 06:25 PM
Oh I do Ckret, but these are in no major rush....these are just suppose to be PPT files to hyperlink to on their website. Simple stuff.
They didnt want to FTP it to me, didn't know what an FTP was. Too big for email.
Sent an email telling her to call if she needed assistance.
WannaBrie
08-30-2007, 07:48 PM
Oh man that's funny DM! Ineptitude is rampant! I always wonder how this type of person manages to obtain and keep a job!
Danger_Mouse
08-30-2007, 07:59 PM
^^
that's easy....Daddy got it for them.
morea
08-30-2007, 08:11 PM
no kidding.
Yipes, DM. You'll probably have to tell them eventually... but it might be fun to see how many blank CDs you can get out of it first. ;)
(I kid, I kid.)
CkretAjint
08-30-2007, 08:23 PM
Very true Morea... at least your getting some free Cds out of it. haha "D
PrintDriver
08-30-2007, 09:09 PM
Are the CDs truly blank? If they are CD-Rs try burning to one to see if it has been formatted. CD-RWs you may never know.
I've had instances where clients burn to disk but for some reason or other my comp was unable to read the content. Either the burn speed was set too high for the older reader I had at the time or it was formatted improperly for a Mac at the time. The older PCs in the office wouldn't open it but the newer models the draftsmen had would. This still happens on occasion if the client has a PC but now we know to go to the draftsmen.
In fact, my poor old OS9 machine is unable to read a CD burned on my newer G5 unless I do it at 4x
I wouldn't call a client an idiot based on an unreadable CD - unless it's true. :D
D-Frag
08-30-2007, 09:14 PM
ive had a couple favorites recently too. aside from the common marketing geniuses that have no idea what "FTP" means or even what it is. my favorite this week, ive been working with a pretty big company, I have been emailing them comps for days and days and they kept calling me saying they never recieved them. low and behold, the person I was in contact with somehow managed to have me added to his spam list, so every email I sent was going directly to his email trash. that would be the first place I looked if someone said they were sending me stuff. it never seems to amaze me the simplest things become so hard because common sense has gone right out the window.
hewligan
08-30-2007, 10:14 PM
ive had a couple favorites recently too. aside from the common marketing geniuses that have no idea what "FTP" means or even what it is. my favorite this week, ive been working with a pretty big company, I have been emailing them comps for days and days and they kept calling me saying they never recieved them. low and behold, the person I was in contact with somehow managed to have me added to his spam list, so every email I sent was going directly to his email trash. that would be the first place I looked if someone said they were sending me stuff. it never seems to amaze me the simplest things become so hard because common sense has gone right out the window.
Well if you hadn't kept sending him those emails about the amazing business opportunity you had with some friends from Nigeria.... :D
Heh heh, I always check anything that comes into my spam folder just because I'm afraid something will end up in there that shouldn't. I have found a few too but it kind of defeats the whole purpose of having a spam folder anyway LOL.
Danger_Mouse
08-31-2007, 11:22 AM
yeah PD I double checked the CD's and they ARE re-writeable, but there is nothing on them. They wont appear on any drive and always default to burning software on both Mac and PC. So I added some files to make sure I just wasn't seeing them. Nope nothing there.
I called the client and the issue might be the brand of CD itself apparently they have already had issues with. Hit and miss when they burn.
4rth set coming for Tuesday :) and my blank CD collection grows!!
My one client puts together an annual catalog, has a different designer for that, but I do the online version. I ask her for high rez files to downsize to the web (and because she always asks for some kind of extra graphic work to them) ... but she's sent me 2 or 3 cd's in the past that were all 2" images LOL. ("I thought those WERE the high rez images!")
Tell them by all means but don't forget the extortion rate for IT support - I am thinking of getting a 0800 number because once you provide them with one answer they'll be back for more!!
Broacher
08-31-2007, 12:48 PM
We've got cartons of unopened CDRWs in the backroom because of this problem. And it was a big brand name. We now routinely use DVDs for handoffs-- they're cheaper and much more reliable. Even if it is just a 2 meg file.
budafist
08-31-2007, 11:59 PM
For special customers, we ask they burn a CD and then print proofs from that CD so they can be sure that what they burned is what the mock up looks like. That should solve your problem. I can also see without even opening up their CD if the have included bleed trim etc (if that's what is required).
Danger_Mouse
09-01-2007, 12:53 AM
haha well buda....the mockup would have to be blank white sheet as there was nothing on the cd to begin with. A printed proof wasn't the issue here. Printed proof supplied or not.... the CD was still blank. And we are talking powerpoint files here. I don't need no printout of a huge PPT file. Its their responsibility on wether or not the PPT files were correct or not, my job was to post it on their website.
:D
budafist
09-01-2007, 01:24 AM
But when their mock up ends up being a blank piece of paper when it should be print outs of their power point slides, shouldn't that tell them they haven't burned the CD properly?